Why I didn’t purchase the lightning I reserve two years ago.

[I=V/R]

I had an early reservation for a MY2022 but my dealership ordered it late and it converted to a MY2023. So I the price went up and one key option was deleted. I decided to not purchase the Platinum Lightning. If I knew I would not get the lay flat seats, I would have ordered a 2022 Lariat.
Other reasons for not buying was the fast charging did not work at a PetroCanada fast charger or a Flo charger. These chargers only charged the Lightning at 32kW. And these stations cost $0.32/minute. I am not sure if the Lightning was not activated to charge at higher rate because it was not yet purchased. And, I could not test the BlueCruise on the TCH. This I learned was because it was not activated and that makes me think it needed to be sold and activated to permit fast charging too. I didn’t consider that before declining the purchase. At any rate, I decided owning a Ford BEV was going to be too much trouble for me. I will reconsider owning a BEV after the charging network in Canada improves. Plus, I will want the option if taking a nap while the battery charges from 20 to 80% while in a road trip. The decision for me to not buy was made by Ford when they deleted the seats that I wanted for road trips. Unfortunately for me.

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[RickLightning]

No, there is nothing to activate that affects charging speed.

Yes, BlueCruise won't work until the vehicle is bought and signed up. Same with other "subscription" features.

 

[I=V/R]

Thanks Rick.

 

[Kev12345]

It was probably charging slow due to a cold battery. I don't have a lightning yet but I'm assuming like Tesla, it preconditions the battery on a road trip if you have the charger destination set? That'll warm up the battery which maximizes charge speed.

I have to agree that the CCS charging infrastructure in Canada is terrible. Hopefully this gets improved quickly. I'm seeing Tesla Superchargers pop up everywhere with 12 stalls minimum. Meanwhile a rare CCS location only has one or two chargers.

 

[RickLightning]

It was probably charging slow due to a cold battery. I don't have a lightning yet but I'm assuming like Tesla, it preconditions the battery on a road trip if you have the charger destination set? That'll warm up the battery which maximizes charge speed.

I have to agree that the CCS charging infrastructure in Canada is terrible. Hopefully this gets improved quickly. I'm seeing Tesla Superchargers pop up everywhere with 12 stalls minimum. Meanwhile a rare CCS location only has one or two chargers.

No, it does not warm the battery on the way to the charger - until a recent update that seems to now provide that capability IF you select the charger as your destination, it will start 30km / 18.6 miles ahead, and you should reduce heater output if possible to divert as much heat as you can to the battery. For the first 10 - 15 minutes of charging, ideally you turn the heater off so that the battery is warmed quickly, and then you can run it to keep warm during charging.

 

[Karlos]

Don't know what the optimum battery charging temp is, but I've seen 170+Kwh from EA chargers with 40dF temperatures. Charging speeds are what others have experienced from 15-80% SOC. I've not set charger destination on the three road trips this week & kept the heater going throughout the session.

 

[I=V/R]

No, it does not warm the battery on the way to the charger - until a recent update that seems to now provide that capability IF you select the charger as your destination, it will start 30km / 18.6 miles ahead, and you should reduce heater output if possible to divert as much heat as you can to the battery. For the first 10 - 15 minutes of charging, ideally you turn the heater off so that the battery is warmed quickly, and then you can run it to keep warm during charging.

So, this is an example of why I decided to not purchase the Lightning. The cost was $132,000 CAD, and I was given no assurances that the PetroCanada fast charger nearby would ever provide more than 32kW. If the battery had to be pre-conditioned, you'd think Ford would provide some sort of notice that the battery was in need of preconditioning. Since I had not yet purchased it, the navigation was not working. SO, you'd think the Ford dealership would have provided some help with this when I told them of my issues. I think I will give BEV's another 5 to 10 years. I am typically an early adopter but in the case of BEV's, I think waiting makes more sense to me everyday.

 

[Calvin H-C]

Forgive me for rolling my eyes at comments related to charging rate, but as a driver for over five years of a Ford Focus Electric, with its "huge" range of about 190 km in the summer, there is a bit more to be learned about charging than what one tries in the limited opportunity available before deciding not to purchase.

Other reasons for not buying was the fast charging did not work at a PetroCanada fast charger or a Flo charger. These chargers only charged the Lightning at 32kW. And these stations cost $0.32/minute.

In my experience, Flo tends to be a poor network for fast chargers. First, most installation seem to charge the same $20/hr ($0.333 per minue) that the network recommends, though there are a few exceptions. Second, Flo always seems to feed you vehicle at a rate much less than what it is actually asking for. About a year ago, they reprogrammed their displays to tell you what your car is asking for, but compared to similar conditions with other chargers, I am not convinced. I'm going to have to bring my laptop and diagnostic interface at some point to really see what my car is asking for throughout the charge.

Quite frankly, Petro Canada has usually been pretty good. My FFE routinely will get 52-53 kW at their chargers, and likewise with Electrify Canada units. That's about the highest my FFE can take, and it sustains that level up to about 86% SOC - it maintains 48 kW to just above 90%.

Though, I was once charging at an EC site and getting 48-49 for the first five minutes, then a Polestar plugged into one of the other units and my rate dropped nearly in half to about 28 kW. The Polestar was getting 127 kW! I figured their site could only handle about 150-160 kW at a time, but I should have still got 48 and the Polestar could get the rest. My guess is that since their fee structure has a second tier that kicks in at 125 kW, they may be programmed to sustain a vehicle above that level in order to charge them that rate. I suffered with double the charging cost and twice my time used.

I will reconsider owning a BEV after the charging network in Canada improves.

We got our FFE in November 2017 and expected it to be just a "commuting" vehicle. Rarely ventured further than home (just north of Toronto) than the charging infrastructure would allow - and trust me, if you think it is sparse now, you should have seen it then. In the summer of 2019, we did a trip to Cornwall - about 430 km from home. This required careful planning - the same way a plane needs enough fuel to get to its destination plus some more to get to the next nearest airport just in case. However, the trip ended up being great with no range anxiety. Doing the same trip today is a piece of cake with today's infrastructure. Compared to then, DCFCs are more frequent and many sites have multiple units. Back in 2019, every site had a single unit.

The charging infrastructure will have to keep growing, but it's been growing at a decent rate.

My big issue, and one that I wouldn't blame anybody for using it as an excuse to not switch to a BEV, is this stupid per minute charge for electricity.

I'll accept it when gas stations start charging by the minute as well (and I've had to wait for some ass-draggers who SHOULD be charged by the minute). We should be paying by the kWh just as gas is sold by the litre. DCFCs should be programmed to stop when the vehicle reaches an 85-90% SOC (or drops the charging by 30-40%) and provide a grace period of 5-10 minutes before switching to a substantial per minute charge for blocking it ($1 or more per minute).

 

[chex38]

Complain to Measurements Canada, they have this ridiculous rule that EV chargers have to have 5 9s of power delivery accuracy, or it has to be done by minute. They were supposed to allow it to change to per kWh rate this past Jan 1st, but the date came and went, and nothing happened.

My local EV club, Victoria EV Club, did a letter writing campaign to our MPs a year ago to try to put pressure on M.C. but no luck so far. Very frustrating.

I'll accept it when gas stations start charging by the minute as well (and I've had to wait for some ass-draggers who SHOULD be charged by the minute). We should be paying by the kWh just as gas is sold by the litre.

 

[Calvin H-C]

Complain to Measurements Canada, they have this ridiculous rule that EV chargers have to have 5 9s of power delivery accuracy, or it has to be done 8by minute. They were supposed to allow it to change to per kWh rate this past Jan 1st, but the date came and went, and nothing happened.

That is correct, and is the basis of the issue here in Canada.

In much of the USA, they charge by the kWh, but there are some jurisdictions that charge by the minute because local regs only allow actual electrical suppliers charge by the kWh. Unless the charge station is owned and operated by an electrical supplier, it is a re-seller.

My local EV club, Victoria EV Club, did a letter writing campaign to our MPs a year ago to try to put pressure on M.C. but no luck so far. Very frustrating.

I hear ya.

I was thinking we should be contacting Dan McTeague - the former MP that is known for trying to deal with gas prices. The website he is now a part of is called Canadians for Affordable Energy. The website seems to be all about gas prices, but if they want to say "Energy" they shouldn't be all about gas. Perhaps we should make an effort to bombard them on the issue of per-minute pricing of vehicle charging.

I know it's wishful thinking, but maybe they can be embarrassed into lobbying on this issue.

 

[ytwytw]

Tested Petro stations (Vaughan) couple days ago
It supports 500amp but only max of 350amp to the truck, end up 118kW when 40% SoC

$30/h tho, price went up a lot

 

[I=V/R]

Forgive me for rolling my eyes at comments related to charging rate, …

… I'll accept it when gas stations start charging by the minute as well (and I've had to wait for some ass-draggers who SHOULD be charged by the minute). We should be paying by the kWh just as gas is sold by the litre. DCFCs should be programmed to stop when the vehicle reaches an 85-90% SOC (or drops the charging by 30-40%) and provide a grace period of 5-10 minutes before switching to a substantial per minute charge for blocking it ($1 or more per minute).

I think the charging based on time is due to not having local regulations that embrace BEV’s. The FLO near me is in a paid parking lot. I don’t know all the details charging by time should be illegal until all EV charge at max rate. My issue with charge rate may have been a preconditioning issue, but as the Lightning was not activated/transferred to me, I could not access that feature. I have done more investigating and the local power company will install 100A service at my parking space but they will charge $65/month as it is considered a commercial installation. The economics don’t work at my use level. I hope this too will change as more EV’s are purchased in my little mountain town. Thanks for your comments Calvin. I have a new PHEV scheduled for delivery in March/April. I am going to wait and see how the BEV network improves and reconsider in a year in more.

 

[I=V/R]

Alberta is approaching another election. I have already asked the opposing candidate for MLA why Alberta has no tax credits for EV’s and I now plan on contacting both incumbent and opposition about this issue. I live in a mountain community where people are environmentally conscious. We have hydro power generators here so it is not a stretch to make this an issue for zero emissions. To be honest though, the hydro electrons used here will be offset by hydrocarbon electrons elsewhere. But it is a start. It is pretty hard to accept that the PHEV I am buying would cone with a $7500 tax credit in the USA this year. Nothing here in Alberta. Well at least we don’t pay PST.

 

[I=V/R]

I have a request. Anyone who lived in Canada DM me with your talking points concerning early BEV adoption, and what the barriers are for BEV ownership. I am also curious what sort of tax credits other provinces have received for new BEV's, PHEV's and Hybrids.

 

[adoublee]

So, this is an example of why I decided to not purchase the Lightning. The cost was $132,000 CAD, and I was given no assurances that the PetroCanada fast charger nearby would ever provide more than 32kW. If the battery had to be pre-conditioned, you'd think Ford would provide some sort of notice that the battery was in need of preconditioning. Since I had not yet purchased it, the navigation was not working. SO, you'd think the Ford dealership would have provided some help with this when I told them of my issues. I think I will give BEV's another 5 to 10 years. I am typically an early adopter but in the case of BEV's, I think waiting makes more sense to me everyday.

If you need assurance a specific DCFC will even exist, it is probably not for you at this time (and I would want all the goodies if buying top of the line, inflated cost vehicle). Depending on the deployment, it is easy to see operators allow DCFC repairs to languish in the US at least. This is probably because there is no good business model for high power public charging, which costs the operator more with every additional kW of site capacity they build in. Electrify America exists as a "penalty" for example. Maybe someday there will be clubs one can subscribe to and drive right into an amenity-rich climatge controlled building for when they can't fuel at home, which might at least add some value to the EV refueling experience.

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